Probably too late to this thread for anyone to read this, but the real reason for this bump is Microsoft removing WordPad from the latest versions of Windows 11.
That would do it. If Windows got rid of their basic document editor, and enough affected muggles got into desperate enough situations to discover Libreoffice, they will tip each other off through social networks quickly.
Strategies taking advantage of the ignorance of users (or voters) are faltering in the age of user-generated content. You can't sell an operating system without a document editor without running the risk of people finding the free one that is nearly as good (or in the case of Wordpad, is far better.)
MS won't like what happens in offices 10 years from now if they let students use Libreoffice for their schoolwork instead of Wordpad (eventually replaced with Word.) They'd better be working hard to get "student" copies of Office into kids' hands, even if they have to pay them to take it.
> MS won't like what happens in offices 10 years from now if they let students use Libreoffice for their schoolwork instead of Wordpad (eventually replaced with Word.) They'd better be working hard to get "student" copies of Office into kids' hands, even if they have to pay them to take it.
They have completely lost this battle. Google Docs was the standard thru nearly my entire K12 and university education.
Can you explain why you think so? it's not self-evident.
WordPad was a quick and easy way to view/edit simple Word documents. When you double-clicked a .docx, WordPad would let you read it (albeit with some formatting issues).
Now when you click a .docx on a fresh Windows install, you get a generic “what app would you like to open this with?” pop-up.*
This leads the user to google free ways to view Word documents, leading to LibreOffice.
* Site note: I’m very surprised Microsoft doesn’t use this as an opportunity to sell you Office.